Wolf & Bear’s

Location: N Mississippi south of Shaver by LAND. moved 10/2011 for winter

Description:

Field Trip. That’s what I call it. See, I work downtown, so it is pretty easy to visit most of the carts in a given lunch hour. When you expand to the east side though, then we call it a field trip. We line up, hold hands, count off and get on the bus; two by two by two…. Seriously though, I had my time concerns for lunch, yet Wolf & Bear’s made it worth the trip.

Wolf & Bear’s is a new cart run by a young couple with both ties to Israel and it comes out in their food. I hadn’t heard of it until a friend of mine tweeted that she took her daughter there and the owners were so excited that she pronounced the name of one of their sandwiches properly. The Sabich (pronounced s-ah-biqh) is a traditional Jewish/Middle Eastern breakfast sandwich which I would eat as an every day meal. With a fresh large pita, they put together hummus, grilled eggplant, hard boiled egg, onions, cucumber, pickles, parsley and salad greens topped with house tahini sauce and amba (mango pickle.)

Sabich from Wolf & Bear’s

When I saw the reference to breakfast and the inclusion of eggs, I wasn’t sure what they were concocting, but boy was that a great pita. The pita itself was chewy and fresh, the hummus garlicky, but not overwhelming. The grilled eggplant mixed with the fresh onions, cucumbers and greens gave the entire sandwich such a bright fresh flavor. I have been enjoying fresh veggies all summer from the garden and the veggies they used had that same freshly picked flavor. I devoured that sandwich at the provided picnic table while sitting under a large umbrella with my house made lemonade. Not a bad way to escape from the office for an hour and relax.

When you read through Wolf & Bear’s menu, you see they have taken their time to put together some signature dishes. Each dish is vegetarian and can be made vegan at request. They pride themselves by making the hummus and labneh (creamy cheese made from uncultured yogurt) from scratch. All sauces and dressings are vegan For those concerned about gluten, they use sprouted garbanzos in the falafel so those are gluten free. What more could you ask for.

You need a break today from the downtown hustle. I suggest a field trip. Put on your backpack, grab your permission slip and head on over to Wolf & Bear’s – and tell them Food Carts Portland sent ya.

“For those concerned about gluten, they use sprouted garbanzos in the falafel so those are gluten free. What more could you ask for.”

Even though the garbanzos may be sprouted, don’t most folks use wheat flour as a binder when making falafel? I suspect it’s not really GF. But still, this place looks great! I can’t wait to try them! Yummmmmm!